Washington D.C., Underground West Wing of the White House.
At 2:00 a.m., John Murphy leaned against the cold wall. His suit jacket was draped over his arm, and his tie was loosened. He wasn't in the Situation Room. As a newly minted Senator, he didn't yet have the clearance to push open that heavy blast door and participate in the top-tier, closed-door meetings that decided the life and death of the nation, or even the global order.
However, he did possess one thing: hallway access.
It was an unofficial privilege granted to a select few core members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He only needed to stand here and "bump into" the people walking out after a meeting concluded. Sometimes, a sigh, a look, or a careless remark contained more information than hundreds of pages of official briefings. He had been waiting here for four hours.
